Find whether a string matches another string

Question

I'd like to parse a string in order to see if it matches the entire string or a substring. I tried this:

String [] array = {"Example","hi","EXAMPLE","example","eXamPLe"};
String word;
...
if ( array[j].toUpperCase().contains(word) ||  array[j].toLowerCase().contains(word)  )
System.out.print(word + " ");

But my problem is:

When user enter the word "Example" (case sensitive) and in my array there is "Example" it doesn't print it, it only prints "EXAMPLE" and "example" that's because when my program compares the two strings it converts my array[j] string to uppercase or lowercase so it won't match words with both upper and lower cases like the word "Example".

So in this case if user enters "Examp" I want it to print:

Example EXAMPLE example eXamPLe

Program for... college exercise or something, or is this a real world application? — Luiggi Mendoza, May 21 '13 at 17:06
Define how is it a real world application. Or at least post that this is just an abstraction of the real code just to let us know the problem. — Luiggi Mendoza, May 21 '13 at 17:09

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered May 21 '13 at 16:38

5

You can convert both the input string and the candidates to uppercase before calling contains().

if ( array[j].toUpperCase().contains( word.toUpperCase() ) ) {
    System.out.print(word + " ");
}

answered May 21 '13 at 16:38

Andy Thomas

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zw324 · Answer 2 · 2013-05-21T16:49:46.550

3

If you are just looking for full matches, use equalsIgnoreCase.

~~When partial match is needed you might need a trie or something similar.~~

edited May 21 '13 at 16:49

answered May 21 '13 at 16:34

zw324

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Check the last case when input is `"Examp"`. By the way, no need to get too complicated with this. StringUtils from Apache Commons already handles this. – Luiggi Mendoza May 21 '13 at 16:35
@LuiggiMendoza Thanks, living too long in the algorithm tag, knee-jerk reaction for me. – zw324 May 21 '13 at 16:46
Using tries for this case is like using a guillotine to cut your hair :) – Luiggi Mendoza May 21 '13 at 16:47

Tap · Answer 3 · 2013-05-21T16:46:46.377

1

Compare to the same case of word.

if ( array[j].toUpperCase().contains(word.toUpperCase()))
{
}

edited May 21 '13 at 16:46

answered May 21 '13 at 16:41

Tap

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score 1 · Answer 4 · answered May 21 '13 at 16:47

1

You are looking for this:

if (array[j].toUpperCase().contains(word.toUpperCase())) {
    System.out.print(array[j]+ " ");
}

This will print:

Example EXAMPLE example eXamPLe

As you wanted!

answered May 21 '13 at 16:47

Sazzadur Rahaman

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score 0 · Answer 5 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:50

0

well, i think othehan using .equalsIgnoreCase u might also be interested in the Matcher( Java Regex). the links are self-explanaory: http://www.vogella.com/articles/JavaRegularExpressions/article.html http://docs.oracle.com/javase/6/docs/api/java/util/regex/Matcher.html Pattern/Matcher group() to obtain substring in Java? String contains - ignore case

edited May 23 '17 at 11:50

Community

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answered May 21 '13 at 16:44

argentum47

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score 0 · Answer 6 · answered May 21 '13 at 17:12

Submit this as your assignment. You'll definitely come off as unique.

String word = "Exam";
String [] array = {"Example","hi","EXAMPLE","example","eXamPLe"};

for (String str : array)
  if (str.matches("(?i)"+word+".*"))
    System.out.print(str + " "); // prints: Example EXAMPLE example eXamPLe

Find whether a string matches another string

6 Answers6